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What international festivals in Poland would you like to see? Posted by on Aug 12, 2015 in Culture

Poland is a place where many cultural events happen, no doubt about that! Throughout the years big Polish cities organized a bunch of festivals. Their range vary from smoky jazz sessions and students days to serious classical music performances. There are also all kinds of folklore and sailor festivals. Here are some of these great festivals

One of the oldest is Wratislavia Cantans (Check this website out for more details) an international music and fine arts festival organized in Wrocław since 1966. It’s creator was a conductor, director of Philharmonic and composer Andrzej Markowski. Thanks to this excellent artist Wrocław might see live performances of numerous masterpieces of oratorio music by Monteverdi, Bach, Händel and others. His successors (Tadeusz Strugala, Lidia Geringer d’Oedenberg and Andrzej Kosendiak) first extended festivals’ formula, including chamber concerts, recitals and the visual art presentations ballet, opera in concert or film version and instrumental works, to back once again to vocal music. This festival takes place every Autumn (this year September 6-19th). So if you are a connoisseurs of classical music, reserve yourself time in September to visit Poland!

05.09.2002 PARADYZ KONCERT BRYTYJSKIEJ SKRZYPACZKI RACHEL PODGER Z ORKIESTRA ARTE DEI SUONATORI FOT.MARCIN LOBACZEWSKI / AGENCJA GAZETA TCGWR Co Jest Grane - Wroc³aw SLOWA KLUCZOWE: MENEL MENELE ZDJÊCIE DO WK£ADKI: TCGWR Co Jest Grane - Wroc³aw

Another great festival to see is  “Warsaw Autumn” (Warszawska Jesień). It is a festival with a long tradition and a true witness to music history. It is the only contemporary music festival in Poland on an international scale and with an international status. This annual event was founded in 1956 by two composers and dedicated to contemporary music. The aim of this festival was and is to present new Polish and world music. Established in hard times of comunism was an island of creative freedom and art. It’s formula was always based on ecltecticism in its positive meaning. You can find there not only musical radicalism, references to tradition, past and culture that it’s connected with but also an audio-art or sound instalation. Nowadays there are books and musical records published after each edition. This year it takes place September 20th through September 30th.

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Also a very important event is happening in Kraków: the Jewish Culture Festival. The First Festival took place in 1988 and it function as a field of dialogue between Jewish and Polish cultures. It was also a good occasion to talk about lost matter of Auschwitz and especially Auschwitz Concentration Camp back then. But next year brought a different adjustment and this festival became a place of meetings Jews and non-Jews from all over the world and sharing the living Jewish tradition. There are films, performances, presentations, and exhibitions to see. Presently there is also a possibility to participate in creating that tradition as there are organized workshops in Hasidic dance and song, Hebrew calligraphy, Jewish paper cutting and cooking. Every year festival is bringing more and more guests interested in celebrating life, Jewish culture and trying to build good relations.

Concert Jewish Culture Festival Krakow

If you ever took part in any of these festivals in Poland, please share it with us in comments below. I personally would love to hear about your experience!

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About the Author: Kasia

My name is Kasia Scontsas. I grew near Lublin, Poland and moved to Warsaw to study International Business. I have passion for languages: any languages! Currently I live in New Hampshire. I enjoy skiing, kayaking, biking and paddle boarding. My husband speaks a little Polish, but our daughters are fluent in it! I wanted to make sure that they can communicate with their Polish relatives in our native language. Teaching them Polish since they were born was the best thing I could have given them! I have been writing about learning Polish language and culture for Transparent Language’s Polish Blog since 2010.